The Good News and the Bad News...

... regarding THIS year's Gingerbread House.

The Good News is that the roof didn't slide off like last year's. (See the first three pictures)

The Bad News is that the bag of coconut for the "snow" wasn't sealed tightly when I shook it rigorously. [I'll let your imagination picture what my just-vacuumed living room ended up looking like.]

December 2008

December 2009

Wow... seriously?

It began with the letter Q. As I picked up Isabel from preschool this afternoon, I checked her folder and found a cute piece of art on the letter Q. We have similar pieces taped around the house. When I saw it I said to Isabel, "Hey look! It's the letter Q, like your name." Another mom looked at me like I had suddenly grown a third eye. I explained that her Chinese name Qing Qing (pronounced Ching Ching) began with the letter Q.

Okay... now here is the strange part. She looked at me with a confused look on her face and said, "She's Chinese?" I told her yes, that I had adopted Isabel almost three years ago.

Her response: "I never knew that. I thought you had her, you know, yourself." She continued to tell me she thought my husband was Asian.

Now I was as confused as she was. Me? The almost 6 foot Irish American? With a Chinese husband? That thought would never have entered my mind... not because of the mixed races but because of the mixed heights. As a TALL woman (who has always been aware of my height), the thought of me being with a (traditionally) short Asian man never entered my mind...

... at least not before this conversation.

Bethlehem, Breakfast and Book Club

Last weekend was a busy weekend (although... when is any weekend NOT busy in December?) with a visit to an amazing re-enactment of the town of Bethlehem on Friday night, Breakfast with Santa on Saturday morning (Thanks, Melissa!), our annual FCC ornament exchange later that afternoon, and our December book club that night. A packed day... to say the least!

Soldiers Guarding the Entrance to Bethlehem

Breakfast with Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph

Our Amazing Group of FCC Women

Mother Bridge of Love

Four years ago today - somewhere in the small city of Wannian, Jiangxi, China - a woman gave birth to a tiny baby girl. The little information I have lets me know that she only kept her daughter for one day… 24 short hours… before leaving her on the steps of the Wannian City Hospital. I will probably never know the circumstances concerning her decision.  (My heart tells me that she – like most mothers in her situation - waited in the shadows to make sure her baby was found, before walking away.) She lives in a world as different from mine as can possibly be. I don’t pretend to even begin to imagine the pain of giving away your child less than a day after bringing her into the world. It is a bittersweet thing that my joy and happiness come at the price of such pain. I know that today, on the other side of the world, a mother is grieving.

And so, tonight, I offer up a prayer that somehow, some way, God would give her a peace, that she would know in her heart that the little baby girl that took her first breath four years ago today is a strong, intelligent, happy girl with an impish grin, contagious laughter and a tender heart.  That she is compassionate, generous and stubborn… that she wears her heart on her sleeve and has a deeper understanding of empathy than I do. She is her four-year-old daughter. My daughter. Our daughter.

Mother Bridge of Love 

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
                                                                  

One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
                                                                                        

One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
         

The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.
         
                                                               
One gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
                         

One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
                                                                        

The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
                                                                                                

the age-old question unanswered through the years.
                                                                                                     

Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
 

                                                                                               

Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.

~Anonymous

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

I just LOVE that mischivous grin!

La Princesa's Belated Birthday Video

Birthday for La Princesa

Take five sweet girls from China

Add copious amounts of balloons, paint, sugar (and wine)

and you get a wonderful afternoon Princess birthday party.

How thankful I am that my daughter gets to grow up among such sweet friends and sisters.

Princess Party Preparations

La Princesa turns four on Tuesday - a school day- so the party is tomorrow. IT will be small, intimate and fun... even if the original plans for it being outside (where it has been since coming home from China) are being rained out.

I spend most of the day working on this castle cake. It came out even cuter than I expected. I can't wait for Isabel to see it.

A New Take on A Balanced Breakfast

And now, to answer your two questions:

Yes, she IS asleep

and

No, I don't know HOW she is doing it.

(My thighs hurt just THINKING of it!)

Never a dull moment in this house.
: )

Three Years Ago Today...

December 1, 2006


... I sat in my classroom and watched as the face of my long-awaited daughter appeared on the computer screen. She was exactly one week shy of her first birthday. The picture was taken when she was about 9 months old. Her fluffy little hair was standing up and was apropos for a child born in the Year of the Rooster. Though I would not hold her in my arms for another 7 weeks, she won over my heart instantly.

What a glorious three years' journey this has been!

Each year on this date, I take a picture of Isabel holding her referral photo. Just amazing... the changes in so short amount of time.

December 1, 2009


December 1, 2008



December 1, 2007